I just passed the second year mark with my MINI and 45,500 miles later it is still a joy to Motor. I had a birthday as well and now I’m …. another year older. The cake was for me, not the car. Birthday resolution: improve the the nut behind the wheel.
I found that the intercooler hood scoop tended to scoop up leaves, bugs, and cigarette butts. Maybe it was just because I was doing a lot of driving in NJ (sorry). I saw a MINI catalog featuring a grille and thought I might try to make one myself. Putting a screen to keep the junk …
This summer is flying by. Just yesterday I was getting ready for annual training at Fort Dix and now we’ll be off to the Monterey Historics in a few short weeks. Along the way, I had a chance to make a couple of mods to the Mini: a rear strut bar and the fog/brakelight mod. …
Updated: January 2015: The mod comes courtesy of Richard Lin, aka OctaneGuy. He used to maintain a website called Littlemini.us and the instructions and photos below are from an archive of that site since it isn’t active anymore. Minis sold in Europe come equipped with rear fog lights. MINIUSA didn’t think the U.S. market would …
My previous solution (15 inch wheels) was a vast improvement over the stock 17 inch R85s with runflats, but they just didn’t look right. I wanted something with a low profile tire, but not too low. I wanted a larger wheel, but not the weight of the 17 inch S-Lites. In the end, my favorite …
So after a year and 23,750 miles, what advice can I offer someone in the market for a new MINI? Here are some observations in no particular order: Storage. You will need help to organize what little storage space is available inside of the car. Start with an organizer for the glove-box; add a cubby …
My old Alfa GTV was very free-reving. You press on the gas and let up and the response was immediate. With the MINI gas-by-wire system, it took much longer to wind down when you let off the gas. Under steady pressure, it responded fine, but with quick changes it seemed to lag. I had read …
Several people have asked about the “Actual Size” sticker on the back of my car, just under the third brake light. People at gas stations always comment “It’s so small…” to which I reply, “No, actually this is actual size.” I got it free from a posting I saw on North American Motoring, but there …
This was a first for me: I found the car I wanted on the web; called to make arrangements to purchase it; then bought it sight-unseen. I’ve test driven several MINIs, but still I was a bit uneasy about making such a big purchase this way, but the whole process went very smoothly. I flew …
It has been almost two months since the decision was made to sell my trusty old Alfa Romeo and buy a new car. Tomorrow I’m flying to NY to pick up my Indi Blue, MINI Cooper S in Southampton. Why fly to NY to buy a car? Well, that’s an interesting story… I first started …